Today, Rep. John R. Carter voted to protect Texans’ private property rights by supporting the Red River Private Property Protection Act. This bill protects the private property of landowners along the Red River from federal ownership and management claims and requires the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to renounce their claim to the land and conduct a survey to determine ownership of the contested land.

“Texans who own property along the border of the Red River have long held ownership rights of that property, and the federal government has no business in trying to make claims on that land,” said Rep. Carter. “This bill will ensure property owners of their titles to their property, and give certainty of their rights.”

The Bureau of Land Management’s Resource Management Plan (RMP) for Oklahoma, Kansas, and Texas considers 30,000 acres of land along the Red River as federal land. The landowners along the border of the Red River have titles and paid taxes on land the federal government is now claiming to own and manage and the contested land has not been surveyed by the BLM.

This bill:

• Requires BLM to renounce their claim to the land and prevents subjecting contested land under any RMP.
• Requires BLM to commission a survey, approved by the Texas General Land Office, to determine ownership of the contested land.
• Provides landowners a right to appeal BLM claims through an Administrative Law Judge. 
• Requires BLM to sell surface rights of remaining publicly owned land at fair market value and report to Congress a list of federal lands that was not sold and the reasons why.

For more information on H.R. 2130, please view the attached PDF document.

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